TEXANALANE ADVENTURES

All boxes are unpacked. Even the kitchen drawers are organized. Insurance is transferred, and specialty doctors are located. Change of address is accomplished. Basically, everything is completed that felt unsurmountable six weeks ago. What now? Mmm, maybe making some friends?

Am I ready to make friends? Have I adapted? Am I grounded enough to continue my story or to reinvent what I would like to change? Have I self-reflected enough to be authentic and aligned with my core desires? Are my heart, mind, and soul aligned with my purpose?

Well, I cannot jump over nor walk around the fact that I am missing my friends and family. So, the answer to my homesickness is to make new friends, locate like-minded spirits, visit places of interest and open my mind to new adventures. Oh! Places to see and people to meet!

Frankly, the truth is that LIFE directs me toward the experiences and people that will affect my life. I feel that I have always been guided toward those who have taught me valuable lessons, both helpful and detrimental. Surely, one cannot learn without relationships, whether intimate or casual. The people who surround us create the world we experience, and thus we see life through the lens of varied perspectives and paradigms. Isn’t that beautiful?

Through friendships, acquaintances, co-workers, lovers, close friends or casual, our minds expand. That new knowledge opens doors to varied cultures, histories, values, and more. Today, I realize that my life is intertwined with every person I have met. All of my life’s experiences are knitted tightly with the old, and my current existence weaves with color, texture, and aliveness created by past, current, and future friends and relationships. My individuality is a summation of all the people that I have met and loved. The changing and endless possibilities of relationships and experiences reflect life’s unique mysteries.

With each friendship and love, life changes like a kaleidoscope reflecting two surfaces (like mirrors) tilted toward each other at an angle, so that one or more traits on one end of the mirror shows a symmetrical pattern and repeated reflection. A beautiful, beguiling panorama of changing images of many colors, shapes, and unique patterns that reveal each one of us.

We are all reflecting each other’s symmetry of values, looks, emotions, and paradigms.

To me, the most exciting part of making new friends is the mystery of how, when and where that will happen. It could be anywhere, anytime, any place, and isn’t that intriguing?. At seventy-seven with several physical limitations, I can rule out distant hiking trails to be explored or exciting places to cut a rug and dance til I drop. I accept the facts that this new chapter of life looks considerably different from previous escapades; yet, I also realize that exciting experiences are soon to be found with all kinds of people, young and old, similar to me and very different from me.

So, here’s my plan of action. I visit local shops. I introduce myself as being new to the community and how much I love it here. I have chips, salsa, and tacos at my local bar, restaurant, cafe, deli … wherever … and I get to know the waiters, bartenders, and the locals. I join clubs including like-minded people that I can share hobbies, talents, etc. I know my next door neighbor by inviting her to dinner. In other words, I don’t wait for anyone to knock on my door. That simply does not happen. Instead, I put myself out there and let the Universe do its job. Before I know it, I am being asked to join others for a coffee klatch, a music club membership, a day at the flea market.

I realize that not everyone I meet will want to be my friend. I am certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. However, somewhere between meeting someone and establishing a true kinship, a connection will be established, and a seed of lifelong friendship will grow. Today, I am not sure who that will be, but I certainly know who my ‘today’ friends and family are. For all of them I am beyond grateful and humbled. Every day I am lifted by their love, compassion, values, and true friendship.

Today, I had lunch at La Posta, a local restaurant and bar. Danny and Evy are the bartenders. They call me by name. They know what I want to order. They listen to my stories, and we talk casually about the world and life. I am blessed. I am honored. I am grateful.

This weekend, I experienced Mesilla’s annual Jazz and Blues Festival. It was awesome! Can’t wait until next year. Yes! New places. New friends. New life. I have the best of both old and new … and tomorrow!